


Wizards in Training

by indigomini



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2018-10-09 09:53:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10409499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indigomini/pseuds/indigomini
Summary: Kyungsoo's been accepted into Halmang School of Magical Studies. He has to play catch up, since he's coming into Second Year, but his new friends make things a little easier...and not.





	1. Chapter 1

Stepping into Halmang School of Magical Studies for the first time is a momentous, unforgettable experience. Do Kyungsoo, age thirteen, is already a year older than most First Years. It is a nerve-wracking and somewhat embarrassing thought that lingers even as he is awed by the sight of strange, translucent, airy creatures flitting alongside them, effortlessly hauling their luggage in from the train and the short walk to the school’s entrance. The banners for the three Houses — Koeullang, Pueullang, and Yanguellang — come to life and glow as they greet the newcomers walking single-file into the expansive Dining Hall.

So many eyes descend upon him. Kyungsoo shrinks into his new cloak some more, feeling self-conscious and small. This is terrible. Being placed into Second Year courses does not give him any advantage. Everyone else will have already had a year together to bond and sort out their cliques and friendship circles. This does not even include the year’s worth of coursework that he will have to study in his free time, concurrent with his regular classes. He will be not only a outsider, but behind academically. But his parents absolutely could not afford to send him when his acceptance letter arrived by owl last year. Only by scraping and saving and rummaging through the used supplies and clothes racks in Ilsan were they able to foot his tuition and materials for this year. This is added stress for the newly-turned teenager: to keep his grades high enough that he could earn a scholarship for the rest of his six years here. 

They are all made to stand at the front of the hall, something that deeply offends Kyungsoo. He understands that they must be sorted into Houses, and it is an important ceremony that everyone has to go through, but he came all the way from Ilsan, and he is tired and would much rather just be told to which dormitory to turn in for the night than have to deal with all of this formal pomp. He was too nervous to sleep on the train earlier, unlike the tall girl behind him who took up an entire bench in their cabin and slept the duration of the trip after a brief and shy introduction, pulling her shorter hair around her face to partially cover her cheeks, causing most of her words to come out mumbled. That girl seems to have made new friends in the scant few minutes it took for them to be escorted from the station up to the school, and they're clinging to each other behind him, chittering like little birds. Kyungsoo adjusts his thick glasses and scrubs at his messy hair, feeling bitter and abandoned. She’s pretty, it would make sense for her to leap for higher rungs when the opportunity presented itself. He couldn’t blame her.

An old woman in navy robes greets the entire student body with a warm, booming voice and then turns to the newcomers to cheerily explain the sorting process. Five large barrels of grain stand in a ring before them: barley, rice, soybean, millet, and foxtail millet. They are to each come up, collect grain from each barrel, and feed it into the wooden basin in the center, filled with mysterious, glowing, blue liquid. It would then somehow look into their hearts and minds, and know in which House they are fated to belong.

Kyungsoo's turn comes too soon, and on quivering legs and with sweaty palms, he walks up to the first barrel, gathering a modest handful of barley before advancing to the next. The barrel of rice is contaminated with some errant barley grains, and Kyungsoo tries to avoid those areas as he collects more, careful not to let his own meager surplus slip. Some rice manages to fall out of his grasp in the soybean barrel, and by the millet, he is scrambling to grab others' left-behind barley to ensure his own collection has some. Regrettably, he only manages to hold several grains of the foxtail millet pinched between his thumb and forefinger to avoid losing more before striding over to the large bowl. The blue liquid is mirror-smooth now, and he silently curses as some soybeans manage to slip out between his knuckles, skittering in a quiet rattle across the floor. Kyungsoo all but throws his handful into the water before he could lose more, watching as the liquid ripples and goes black.

He holds his breath.

It doesn't matter which House he goes to. Kyungsoo is more worried, deep down, that the bowl would just stay black, and Headmaster Nambich with her cheery demeanor and booming voice would come up and ask him to leave. That he did not belong here at all, and they must have made a clerical error. Clearly, his brother did not merit an invitation to be here, and so why would anyone expect him to be any different? Thank you for your tuition payment, which, oh my, by the way is nonrefundable. Enjoy your life as a farmer or whatever. Please don't leave your raggedy luggage on our pristine property.

He would have to hide somewhere and beg on the streets until the year was over. His parents could never learn that he got rejected. It would break their hearts.

The bowl glows a brilliant gold, and Kyungsoo feels tears welling in his eyes as he barks a quick laugh in relief. House Pueullang's students stand up in a sea of matching gold and clap, some cheering loudly as they welcome their newest member. A boy extends his hand toward Kyungsoo as he advances on their table.

"Hi, I'm Byun Baekhyun!" he has to shout to be heard over the fading greetings, flashing a broad smile. "It's over, you can breathe now!"

Kyungsoo goes to shake his hand and nearly trips as he is pulled into a surprise hug instead, Baekhyun clapping him on the shoulder twice before releasing him. He's too jittery to answer, offering a nod instead as he turns around and pretends to watch the rest of the First Years get sorted. The girl from the train gets sorted into Pueullang as well, and he claps along with the rest of the group as she makes her way toward them. Kyungsoo feels a petty bit of smugness as her new friend gets sorted into Koeullang next.

"Don't worry," Baekhyun tells the girl — Kim Jongin — who looks crestfallen and lost, and Kyungsoo feels a twinge of guilt for his unkind thoughts. "My friend Chanyeol is in Koeullang and we still hang out all the time. It will be okay."

"Okay," Jongin answers in a small voice, still teary-eyed and pouty.

As the sorting line dwindles to a close, Baekhyun announces loudly to their entire table that he must go relieve himself and plucks Kyungsoo from his seat, dragging him backwards until he manages to twist around to keep from stumbling. It isn’t until they’ve left the hall and turned down a narrower corridor that he realizes Jongin is also being pulled by the neck of her cloak, wide eyed and just as equally confused. Partly relieving, partly alarming.

“Yah, what are you doing!” Kyungsoo hisses, breaking free just as Baekhyun steps across the threshold into the bathroom. He whips a finger toward the other hostage, “Jongin!”

“Actually,” Jongin struggles to free herself from Baekhyun’s grip as well, attempting to smooth out her cloak afterward, and succeeding only in tangling her hair into the neck of the fabric. “I’ve been needing to pee since we arrived, but I would have rather walked by myself.”

“You can’t go in this one!”

Jongin rears back, as if slapped, her hands tucking into her chest defensively as she regards Kyungsoo with confused eyes. “Why not?”

Baekhyun is looking at him in the same, perplexed manner.

Something gently, yet insistently, bumps into his foot, and Kyungsoo glances down to see a little pink paper crane snagged on the shoelaces of his well worn left sneaker, trying to escape.

"About time!" Baekhyun exclaims, giggling as he crouches over and snatches the enchanted origami bird up to spread its wings apart and read the message scribbled on there. He turns to look at Kyungsoo. "Hey, you two wanna see something cool after we head back to the dorms?"

Distracted, his eyes flit between the two of them before settling on Jongin. “This is the boys’ room.”

Jongin is having the same problem, it seems. She looks back and forth between them and nods brusquely at Baekhyun before dashing toward a nearby urinal, casting a quick glance over her shoulder at Kyungsoo.

For the next few seconds, the sound of liquid striking porcelain carries through the quiet room. Baekhyun smirks and sidles up to Kyungsoo. “Did you think he was a girl?”

His cheeks burn. If he’s lucky enough to stay in this school until graduation, he’s going to do so without any friends. Reluctantly, he follows Baekhyun to a different urinal, just to enjoy the proximity to another human before that is lost forever. Unable to meet Jongin’s eyes once  _ he _ is finished and walks back toward them, Kyungsoo fixates on the tips of his own shoes. He remembers the crane.

“W-what was it,” he mumbles. “The something.”

Baekhyun hops twice before zipping his pants back up, and takes his time washing his hands, turning back to them with a flourish as he towels off. “My friend Jongdae,” he announces, waving the little paper bird in the air. “He snuck a pixie in!”

“Pixies are dangerous,” Jongin voices softly.

"You don't have to go if you're  _ scared _ ," Baekhyun counters, turning his nose up at the younger kid.

"I'm not scared!" Jongin argues, his voice squeaking contrarily. His brows furrow as he looks at Kyungsoo in challenge, as if daring him to be confused again. It was an honest mistake, with the longer hair. He was not trying to imply weakness.

“What about you, brainiac?” Baekhyun nudges his shoulder.

“Um,” Kyungsoo swallows, “yeah, I’ll go.”

Baekhyun beams and brushes between them to leave, walking them back toward the Dining Hall. "After Yifan brings us past the lion statue, make sure you stick close and follow me, okay?"

"Who's Yifan?" Kyungsoo asks. He knows nobody here other than these two, and even then, not well at all.

"The prefect," Baekhyun answers, thumbing the air toward the boy at the head of the table with a silver badge pinned to his robes. "He's cool though, so if we get caught, he'll just lecture and then send us to bed."

Kyungsoo doesn't feel entirely comfortable with the situation. He has no reason to trust Baekhyun, and what if this was some sort of hazing ritual or just a flat out trap to get new students in trouble or to weed out potential miscreants? He is not a miscreant. But not going will also sever the new threads connecting him to the first two people who are willing to speak to him in this strange and scary place.

"Okay."

"Okay," Jongin echoes, uncertainty weighing his voice down.

"Cool," Baekhyun says, grinning at them again. He reminds Kyungsoo of a Cheshire cat.


	2. Chapter 2

After dinner was over, they’re led, surprisingly, out the back of the building, past a large courtyard, and down the center of three paths. He follows close to Baekhyun as instructed, observing the grounds as their walk curves sharply along the edge of a cliff. Kyungsoo stifles a gasp when they crest the hill. Before them is a small island, on which rested seven identical buildings in a neat U-shape with a water fountain in the middle. The island hung in mid-air, tethered to the main island by a narrow old hanging bridge fashioned seemingly out of enormous, braided tree roots emerging from underneath the floating mass. On their side of the bridge stood an enormous statue of a horned lion resting on all fours.

“It’s a unicorn!” gasps one of the First years behind him.

Some of the older kids giggle in response and a tall boy with a silver badge on his sweater spins around to find the one who spoke. “He is not ,” he proclaims, bristling at the idea, “He’s a xiezhi!”

Another boy coughs behind him and nudges him with their foot. The prefect glances back and his mouth forms an ‘o’ shape briefly before he turns back to the First Years. “I mean, he’s a haetae,” he corrects himself brusquely. The sun was setting, and it was hard to tell his face, but the silver badge must mean he was the prefect Baekhyun was talking about earlier, Yifan. “What kind of backwoods, podunk place are you from that you don’t know a mythical lion when you see one?”

The ground shakes as the giant statue comes to life and straightens up, filling the air with the sound of grinding rocks as it rears up to its front paws. “New children,” it blares in a loud, gritty voice. Some of the First years cower and make nervous noises, clinging to each other in a little herd. “It is a new year already?” the stone beast asks sleepily, if a rock could sound sleepy.

The prefect steps closer to it and pats its foreleg. He is tall, probably the tallest out of their entire House, and he doesn’t even come up to the creature’s knee. Yifan speaks to it in a language Kyungsoo doesn’t understand and it lets out a chuckle that rumbles the ground. “So little,” it adds, looking over the newcomers. Behind him, Kyungsoo feels Jongin gripping the back of his sweater tightly.

“He came from Guandong,” Yifan explains to the First years. “So technically he’s a xiezhi, but—”

“Dōngsānshěng,” the lion corrects, “if we’re going to be technical.”

Kyungsoo winces as the lion’s lips pull up into a cheeky smile, sounding like nails on a chalkboard as the rocks grind against each other.

Yifan drops his hand, stepping away in pretend annoyance. “It hasn’t been called that in the last century or so,” he huffs haughtily before focusing back on the First years. “But anyway …this is our House mascot—”

“Protector,” the haetae interjects.

“Our House protector, Fu,” Yifan grinds out, side-eyeing the haetae again, “who happens to be our mascot, and basically, don’t try to sneak your friends into the dorms, or he’ll eat them.” He smirks at the horrified looks from the First years and pauses a moment to bask in it before continuing. “Anyway, to get into our dorms, you have to face Fu. All new students have to introduce themselves right now so he can know your name and your scent. Everyone else can go in and get ready for bed.”

Baekhyun elbows him. “Go. Hurry,” he mouths as the line starts shuffling forward.

Kyungsoo stares at the giant lion and gulps nervously. No one else was approaching it, and Yifan has started sweeping his hands and clapping encouragingly, trying to get them to step up. He could feel Jongin’s hand trembling against his lower back. The older students have already gotten a quarter of the way across the bridge and Baekhyun is almost to the haetae, shooting furtive glances back.

“Should we go?” comes a nervous whisper behind him. 

He’s so tempted to beg Jongin to go first, but between the confusion earlier and him being older, that is not an option. Inhaling a deep, albeit shaky, breath and steeling his nerves, Kyungsoo takes a cautious step forward, and another, and another. His eyes stay locked on the haetae’s, who seems much more interested in stretching its paws out than observing the new students. He practically has to drag Jongin along behind him.

The haetae finally notices his approach, and tucks its claws away to smile down at the two frightened children. “Hello,” it purrs out in a low, gravelly voice.

“H-hello…” Kyungsoo manages to squeak out, pushing Jongin’s fist off of his sweater and feeling the fabric snap back loosely. “M-my… name- my name…” The lion remains frozen in amusement, like the statue that it is, waiting patiently. He swallows and squeezes his eyes shut for a second before trying again. “M-my name… is D-do Kyungsoo. I am a S-second… year.”

“Hello, Do Kyungsoo,” the haetae says plainly. It doesn’t seem interested in any followup questions.

He goes to follow after Baekhyun, but Jongin snatches the tail of his sweater again and holds it in a deathgrip. “ _ MynameisKimJongin _ ,” he rushes out in a squeak, and Kyungsoo catches something about “First” and “ear” before Jongin flattens himself against Kyungsoo’s back, trying to appear small before the lion.

“Hello, Kim Jongin,” the statue greets, and then more loud rocks grind as its lips pull back up into another grin. He looks quite pleased with himself.

There’s only a sliver left of the setting sun on the opposite side of the horizon when they join Baekhyun. He has that Cheshire cat smile on his face again, whirling around as they step toward him, and walking over to the edge of the cliff without a word.

“You could have elaborated on lion statue,” Kyungsoo grumbles, although he regrets it almost immediately. He can’t make friends if he goes and snaps at them immediately after. Jongin finally lets go of his sweater again, and he works on rearranging it as they trail after Baekhyun. At least right now, there’s a glimmer of hope.

“It would’ve ruined the initiation,” Baekhyun says, shrugging a shoulder as he rocks back and forth on his feet, standing uncomfortably close to the edge. “You guys ready?”

“...For?” Kyungsoo asks.

“So I’m gonna jump, and you guys are going to follow me exactly, okay?”

“What?” Kyungsoo says, glancing over to Jongin to confirm he had heard Baekhyun correctly. Apparently, he did. “No!”

“C’mon, it’ll be fun,” Baekhyun says, tilting his head back to smirk at them, eyes glittering.

“I don’t want to jump!” Jongin says, stepping closer to Kyungsoo again.

Baekhyun turns around fully this time. “Fine,” he says, “Go back to the dorm then. I’m gonna go see a pixie.” And then he’s decided the conversation has ended. He faces the cliff again, takes a couple steps back, and then dashes forward with no hesitation, leaping at the last second over the edge.

Kyungsoo’s reflexes make him launch toward Baekhyun to grab him, despite him being nearly three meters away. His shout dies as tree roots reach out and wrap around Baekhyun, lifting him up over their heads, and then vanishing a moment later. Silence fills the air. Eventually, seconds or minutes later, he turns to find Jongin reflecting his bewildered look back at him. “What just happened?” he asks.

Jongin looks like he’s ready to cry. “...Should we follow him?” he asks several seconds later in a small voice.

He’s tempted, so tempted, to turn back and get settled into his dorm room for the night. His body is stiff from the train ride, drowsy from dinner, and high off embarrassment and adrenaline from the bathroom and encountering their House mascot. This is not the time to propel oneself off a cliff. In fact, it would  _ never  _ be the proper time to propel oneself off a cliff. He’s not a lemming.

“We have to, don’t we,” Kyungsoo moans.

Jongin gulps and doesn’t answer, looking warily at the cliffside instead. “I-I’ll go first this time…” he says shakily.

He just can’t argue with that. Nope. The look on Jongin’s face seems to be begging him to, but Kyungsoo’s still recovering from the introduction with the haetae. The First year sighs and swallows again, keeping his eyes on where Baekhyun had leapt, and takes in several deep breaths. “Okay,” he says, more to himself than Kyungsoo. “Okay…”

The boy runs funny, like he’s not used to moving his muscles that way. His feet hit the ground flat but they’re almost soundless on the soft dirt. Jongin slows down as he nears the edge, regretting the choice, but his momentum clears him over the side. It’s an awkward jump, but the giant roots come for him anyway and he disappears into the night sky.

“ _ Crap _ ,” Kyungsoo whispers. He’s all alone now. Worse, there’s no going back. Not when the First year had gone before him. He looks up at the stars as if his solution will come down from heaven, but they twinkle in silence, observing and judging him. His heart is trying to beat its way out of his chest, and he brushes his messy hair out of his eyes as he takes deep breath after deep breath.

He starts off slow, almost a light jog, and reluctantly picks up speed as he can make out the water over the side of the cliff. Kyungsoo closes his eyes and goes fetal as his feet leave the edge, doing his best to keep from screaming out his fears. The vines come, and he half expects them to rip him in half, but they cradle him, supporting his weight evenly enough that it’s a cushioned fall and nothing more than a soft “ _ oomf _ ” of surprise that escapes from his lips. The vines bring him up, air rushing past his face, until they let go and his feet land on solid ground.

Kyungsoo opens his eyes to find Baekhyun grinning over him and Jongin on the ground nearby, arms around his knees. They’re on a small patch of floating land, it seems, like the one where their dorms were located. Except this one was the size of roughly one room, and is empty aside from a wooden chest and the three of them.

“You made it, you survived ,” Baekhyun sings out, off-key, wiggling his fingers dramatically as he laughs. “Do you like our place?”

He’s about to ask what that’s supposed to mean when vines appear in front of him and drop a tall boy right beside him. The boy seems surprised to see him, but is apparently unphased by giant snakey tree roots transplanting humans to floating, invisible islands. “Hey!” the newcomer greets, giving him a friendly smile and wave before heading over to Baekhyun. “Where is it?”

“Dude, he’s not here yet,” Baekhyun says, although he practically skips forth to sling an arm around the boy’s waist. “This is Chanyeol,” he introduces, exaggeratedly flourishing his hands around the boy. “He’s in Koeullang. This is Jongin and Kyungsoo.”

“Cool! You like our place?” Chanyeol echoes smugly before dropping to the ground and kicking his shoes off to lean back in the dirt.

“What  _ is  _ this place?” Jongin pipes up.

“It’s a new baby island,” Baekhyun explains, joining Chanyeol on the floor and grabbing a stick to doodle into the dirt with. “We found it last semester. It’s pretty awesome.”

Kyungsoo’s in the middle of asking how exactly they found a whole new island when the roots drop another student next to him.

“Hey!” comes the chorus of greetings as the trio gather and clap each other on the backs. The new boy finally realizes there’s company and turns to hold a hand up at them. “Sup. Jongdae,” he says as introduction, swiveling an index finger back at his own face.

“...Kyungsoo,” he says, hearing Jongin mutter his own name after.

“You like our—”

Baekhyun slaps Jongdae’s arm impatiently, waving him off. “We talked about this already. They’re very impressed. You’re late. Gimme gimme gimme,” he says, making grabby motions.

Jongdae sighs dramatically, lying back on the ground and looking up at the sky. “I feel so unwanted,” he pretends to mope, resting the back of his hand against his brow bone. “Only one summer away, and suddenly my friends only want me for what I can give, not what I am. Alas .”

“You damn right,” Baekhyun says, slapping Jongdae’s thighs now. “Gimme!” He’s joined quickly by Chanyeol, and Jongdae scurries back and away, squealing out his troubles as he digs into his front pocket.

“What is  _ that? _ ” Chanyeol yells, leaning forward as Jongdae unwraps the small figure.

Baekhyun is cackling, head tossed back as he laughs. “What  _ is  _ that!” he asks, whole body shaking.

“My mom made it!” Jongdae huffs, smacking each of them in the shoulder.

Kyungsoo scoots closer to look at what’s so funny, catching sight of something small and electric blue. He squints and navigates around Chanyeol’s long legs. There, in between Jongdae’s knees, stood a tiny little blue creature with oversized, bat-like ears. It was wearing an equally tiny green and red child’s hanbok, slightly wrinkled from its stay in Jongdae’s pocket.

“How did you catch it?” Chanyeol asks, little giggles still escaping his mouth every couple of breaths. He reaches a tentative finger out toward the creature, who watches the digit warily.

“We went to England,” Jongdae says, nudging the pixie forward. “There was this beach area — there were so many of them, it was like you could just reach out and grab like dozens at a time if you wanted.”

“Dude, this is so illegal,” Baekhyun says, awe in his voice. They all watch as the pixie grabs onto Chanyeol’s fingertip in both hands and sniffs it curiously.

“Does he bite?” Chanyeol asks.

“It’s a she,” Jongdae says, the corners of his lips curling up. “And you’d think you’d ask before you go offering fingers.”

It chirps at them, shrill and squeaky, as Chanyeol withdraws his finger nervously. Kyungsoo’s cheeks burn once again at the similarity, and he looks around to locate the First year.

“What’s she saying?” Jongin pipes up. Kyungsoo is surprised to see he had wormed a better viewing position on Jongdae’s other side.

“I don’t know, New Dude, I don’t speak English,” Jongdae says.

“ Is it English?” Baekhyun asks. “I thought they had their own language.”

“What do you feed it?” Jongin continues.

“It likes flowers. I gotta keep it away from my cat, or they try to eat each other.”

They fawn over the tiny pixie, who apparently can be left out without any restraints. Kyungsoo is too nervous to touch it, but apparently small creatures are right up Jongin’s alley. He practically dives in to pet it as if it were a puppy or something, trying to communicate with its little chirps by offering his own imitations. It pays way more attention to him than the rest of them.

“No, I’m keeping her,” Jongdae says, resting his head on his folded arms as they watch the pixie flit around the small island. “She’s so tiny because she was like starving. There were too many of them, and I think she was an outcast or something.”

“Oh, so you’re the hero instead of some evil tourist poacher, I see, I see,” Baekhyun drawls, propping his feet up on Chanyeol’s stomach, who doesn’t even seem to notice.

Jongdae punches him weakly in the calf, knocking his leg off of Chanyeol for a split second before it comes right back. “I  _ am _ !” he whines.

The three are clearly close. It makes Kyungsoo uncomfortable and awkward, the outsider who’s creeping on three friends’ reunion. Jongin’s busying himself playing with the pixie, lost in his own world right now. He’s about to settle in and stew in his own self-pity again when Jongdae taps him on the knee. “Oy, so wait, you’re a Second year? Where were you last year?”

“Oooh,” Chanyeol says, rubbing his hands together, “Were you banned for performing illegal magic or something?”

“No, no, or…” Jongdae says, staring blankly ahead as he cycles through the possibilities. “Oh, oh! I know! You’re just here for a year before you transfer to another wizarding school. Are you an army brat?”

“I…” Kyungsoo says, pursing his lips and looking at each of them in turn. “...My family couldn’t afford to send me last year,” he says lamely.

They all stare at him. Even Jongin. Even the pixie. “Oh,” Jongdae says, eyes softening apologetically. “That sucks.”

“But you’re here now!” Chanyeol adds.

“Yeah!” Baekhyun chimes in. “And check it out, you’re with the cool kids. That’s even better.”

—

They forgot to consider that Jongin has to go to a different building than them when they finally got back and snuck across the bridge. The kid looked so frightened when Baekhyun pointed at the First Years’ building that he would have to brave by himself that he froze on the spot. Kyungsoo was no help whatsoever aside from a reassuring pat on the back. He had no clue what would be in store for them either, but Baekhyun provided some general instructions on how to navigate once he went inside and they parted ways with a very reluctant Jongin before going into their building.

The House was split into seven dorms, one for each Year. The girls occupied one side, the boys, the other. Unfortunately, they bunked in groups of four, and Kyungsoo had no clue which room he had been assigned to. It must have been past midnight by now. Baekhyun leads him past a little kitchenette area to a bulletin board where he pores over a complicated list in the bottom corner as Kyungsoo flails uselessly in the dark beside him.

“You’re in room seven, I think,” Baekhyun whispers. “I’m guessing your bed will be the bunk that’s empty.”

“Thanks,” Kyungsoo whispers back, keeping his smartass comment to himself. He’s grateful, he’s just tired and grumpy.

“I’m in room four if you need me, but don’t need me. I want to sleep. I’ll see you in P.S.T. tomorrow. Bathroom is room five.” Baekhyun cracks a huge yawn, causing Kyungsoo to copy him and they tiredly scrub at their eyes for a moment before splitting up and heading to their respective beds. “Goodnight!”

“Goodnight,” Kyungsoo whispers over his shoulder, his attention focused on not tripping over anything in the dark. He makes it to his room in one piece. Someone was snoring. He can’t even bring himself to care. There’s a nightlight on someone’s table, and it casts wide enough that he can find the bed with his suitcase on the end. Unable to will away the indifference, Kyungsoo collapses into bed and worms his way up to the pillow. He’s out cold before he can even pull the covers over himself.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Dedicating this chapter to Eleri, who's a birthday girl today! She's thatweirdo on here, and @celerydragon on Twitter! Go say happy birthday! Sorry for such a crappy gift, but I hope you like it!

Morning comes too quickly. With heavy eyelids and resistant limbs, Kyungsoo eventually manages to pull his body upright, grimacing at the sweat breaking out down his back. Surely, it couldn't have gotten that hot overnight. The air was cool, just shy of chilly, when he went to bed.

His eyes finally manage to pry themselves open and settle on a bright yellow orb floating in the center of the room.

A tiny sun.

“Ugh,” groans a body in the bed next to his. They scramble, uncovering their body but pulling the sheets up to cover their head.

“Rise and shine,” rasps another person, and Kyungsoo looks at the other bed to see a boy scowling at his own feet. He finally glances over at Kyungsoo and raises a hand in reluctant greeting. “You're the new guy, huh?”

Well, that should be obvious, really. They're all Second Years. No one had seen him before. “Yeah,” he croaks out, throat too dry. “I’m Do Kyungsoo.”

“Im Hyunsik,” the boy offers, rolling sluggishly out of bed and retargeting his scowl to squint at the floating ball of heat in the room. “Why they couldn't just get a siren alarm instead of this wicked thing is beyond me.”

“A siren alarm?”

“Like where sirens sing?” Hyunsik asks. “It's nice, it just pulls you out of bed and bam, you're up. This setup is just cruel. It gets bright, and then it gets so hot until you can't take it anymore.”

He did notice the temperature creep even higher in the last minute.

“You doing breakfast?”

“Uhh… sure?”

Hyunsik kicks the foot of the other bed, evoking a grunt from its resident. “C’mon, princess, rise and shine!”

“I can last another five minutes,” grunts the sleeper.

“Whatever, man, me and new dude are gonna go eat,” Hyunsik says, nodding at Kyungsoo.

“Do I need to bring my stuff?” Kyungsoo asks nervously, half-heartedly pulling the sheets back up his bed.

Hyunsik motions for him to set it back down. The sheets rise on their own, tucking themselves neatly into place, before the mattress cantilevers back into the wall with a crisp _click_ sound, and the bedframe rearranges itself into a small desk and stool. “Next year, they’ll let us charm the bed ourselves! What's your schedule?” he asks, bumping shoulders with Kyungsoo so he can skim down the list of classes. “Just grab your tablet for P.S.T. and you should be good.”

“Tablet?” Kyungsoo asks. Hyunsik gives him a nod. “I… I don't have a tablet.”

Hyunsik gives him an annoyed look as he wipes sweat from his brow. The room is positively balmy right now. “This, pabo,” he says, tugging on the corner of the white cutting board sticking out of his suitcase. They had required it for school supplies, which Kyungsoo had assumed was for some cooking thing. “C'mon, I'm starving.”

All meals, as Hyunsik explains, are held in the Dining Hall. Optionally, students can get lunch in the front entrance where local vendors bring food trucks of every variety, but Kyungsoo has pretty much kissed that option goodbye, as his tuition only covers school meals. Breakfast is seolleongtang, or ox bone soup, and while it is hot and flavorful, it is seasoned differently from how his mom makes it. The thought makes him miss home and his family.

He doesn't really get a chance to wallow though, as mere seconds after his first bite, he's attacked by Byun Baekhyun, who practically climbs onto his back to greet him. “Kyung _sooooo_ ,” he wails, his voice echoing down the room as he shakes Kyungsoo's shoulders. “You live!”

“I live,” he confirms weakly, confused and overwhelmed over the enthusiasm.

Baekhyun shoves Hyunsik over and crams into the small space between them, clapping Kyungsoo on the shoulder. “Is Hyunsik your roommate?” he asks. “I'm still your best friend though, right?”

“My best friend?” Kyungsoo echoes, eyes widening at the thought. He literally just met Baekhyun last night, and even then, he was the quiet kid lurking on the group of best friends, hardly the one stealing the show.

“Good,” Baekhyun says, apparently taking the question as agreement. He doesn't even last a minute in the silence. “C'mon, hurry! Let's go to P.S.T., I'm so excited!” He actually claps, bouncing happily in his seat.

He's not sure what protocol is for talking to the other Houses. Jongdae and Chanyeol are eating in their respective groups. Was he supposed to pretend they don't know each other? Or is it just early Monday morning, and they're tired? Kyungsoo tries to make a mental note to ask Baekhyun later, in private.

It's not until he's finally finished eating, with Baekhyun snatching his cutting board and dragging him out of the Hall, that he sees Jongin stumbling in, eyes barely cracked open. The boy gives them a bewildered look before Baekhyun waves at him and drags Kyungsoo off. “Don't be late for class!” Baekhyun offers before rounding the corner.

—

Kyungsoo stares at the little jars before him in equal parts confusion and disgust as the professor explains what they're about to do. He still can't quite comprehend it. Potions, Salves, and Tinctures II sounded like it might've been his favorite class, but right now, the professor is literally explaining how to plant seeds and tubers. His parents skimped and saved and slaved extra hours on their farm so he could pay for top private tuition on Jeju Island, for him to… plant a garden.

“Some of these gardens are a hundred years old,” Professor Kim Hyuna continues to explain, oblivious to Kyungsoo's internal distress, “Some of the seeds you are planting today will be used by future students, up to a century from now as well. It is a cycle, and it shows appreciation for your tools, your ingredients, and your school.” She goes on to elaborate on how raw, fresh ingredients contain much more potency than the dried, powdered stuff that First Years used, so this is where the real magic starts to happen. Next year, their Third Year, they will use these same gardens and introduce fermentation magic, which is a Korean specialty, and goes back centuries. “You will notice that this class period is rather short, only one hour,” she explains. “This will be the last time I lecture you on Monday mornings. From now on, you will come here, tend to your gardens, and prepare whatever ingredients are needed for Friday, where you will spend the entire afternoon to complete your assignments. Please sign and submit your waivers on your tablets and get started. Textbook work is done outside of class, just like last year… Speaking of, I believe we have a new student?”

All Pueullang eyes turn to him, while several Yanguellang students try to ferret out who it might be. Kyungsoo gulps and fidgets with the cutting board, digging his nails into its side. Reluctantly, he raises his hand.

“Oh, that won't do,” Professor Kim says, hastily walking toward him. She produces her wand and taps his board. It flexes, arching up from the counter, and then deflates until it's the thickness of a sheet of paper. “You should have announced this before class,” she scolds, clicking her tongue. “Someone give him a briefing on how to submit assignments— ah yes, thank you Baekhyun-ssi.” She leans in, dropping her voice to a stage whisper. “I believe they have informed you that you will have to pick up last year's basics on your own time as well, is that correct?”

Kyungsoo clears his throat nervously. “Um, yes,” he mumbles.

“Did you get a tutor?”

Like he could afford a tutor. “I'll be fine.” The library fee was already paid for. Might as well make sure he gets his parents’ money’s worth.

Five minutes later, Kyungsoo finds himself sweating buckets under the morning sun, doing what he thought he'd never have to do by going to this school. Farming. Or gardening, they call it. So much money spent so that he could do as a hobby, as a class assignment, what his parents do for a living. What he could do at home for free.

Luckily, Baekhyun and Jongdae pair up with him during the hour, and they chitter away like squirrels nearly the entire class period. It helps to distract from the annoyance. Their first assignment is an underwater breathing potion, and most of the ingredients must be harvested immediately prior to using, so there wasn't much to do after planting. He suppresses a sneer as they leave for their second class. Planting seeds for some random student in the future. He won't even be able to use those and they likely used his tuition to pay for them.

“It's a legacy,” Baekhyun echoes the professor earlier, as if that'll make him feel better. “Like that one proverb: ‘Society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.’ It's not like they can't just buy the ingredients, but it has more meaning when it came from those before us, and that we leave some for those who will come after.” It doesn't make him feel better, and actually just piles some guilt onto the annoyance, since he knows Baekhyun is right.

—

Growing up, Kyungsoo absolutely loved movies. Especially American movies, where the budgets rival small countries’ GDP. He kind of assumed he would then, naturally, love Foreign Spellworks: America 1917-1960: The Birth & Rise of No-Maj Cinema, even with the obscenely long title. However, the class seems to be more of a cautionary tale of how some No-Majs—American meogeuls or _muggles_ —stumbled upon the wizarding world, misinterpreted everything they saw, and in true American fashion, translated it into technology and blew it up into an enormous industry.

The class, located in a dusty tower offshooting the main building, is taught by Professor Kim Hwandong, whose deep voice lulls Kyungsoo to sleep in less than ten minutes after the lecture starts. He awakens to a ticklish sensation on his face, and falls out of his chair trying to jerk away from the big, focused eyes in front of him. The whole class erupts in giggles now that the need for silence is over. Professor Kim straightens up and swishes his paintbrush in a warning twirl before heading back to the podium without a word.

Baekhyun elbows his side once he manages to sit back in his seat, face burning in embarrassment. “Don’t mess with Kim, man, he doesn’t play around,” he stage-whispers.

He stares hard at his desk before wiping at the weird feeling under his nose, only to see black come away on the back of his hand. Kyungsoo ducks down and scrubs at his upper lip until the ink finally stops. Hand coated in black, he turns miserably to Baekhyun to see him stroking an imaginary moustache back at him, with Chanyeol on his other side copying his motions.

These are his first friends at Halmang. This is his life.

—

As if the pressure from PST II wasn’t enough, Kyungsoo gets a massive reality check in Wandwork II, where a very unsympathetic Professor Kim Eunhaeng reminds him after he singes off the bottom half of the professor’s robes that he is a year behind his classmates, and will have to find ways to catch up. This day has gone from bad to worse to officially terrible, and it’s not only the first day of school, but not even halfway over.

He has to ditch Baekhyun once lunchtime arrives. Kyungsoo’s tuition and meals are paid for, and not a won more. He can’t afford to eat in the courtyard. Besides, the food in the Dining Hall is delicious. But Kyungsoo sits at the empty Pueullang table, having the banchan spread out all for himself, and mopes into his bowl of rice, imagining how long it will take for his new friends to dump him. Hard to have friends if you can’t afford the socialization tax.

There’s a break between lunch and his last class, and Kyungsoo rushes off to a clearing past their dorm to practice through his wandwork. The book lists off so much information without any context, that he’s near tears before he realizes that the things it’s referencing are probably in the First Year book… which he does not have. Maybe one of them has it on hand for whatever reason, and will loan it to him. Still, he manages to blossom a small, glittery purple flower in the field of green grass before it spontaneously ignites, and he has to stomp out the flame before calling it quits.

Baekhyun is trotting across the bridge when Kyungsoo spots him. He shouts before thinking, cringing as all the other students turn to look at the source, but Baekhyun is pushing through them to jog over to him a moment later.

“Sup?” he asks, chewing loudly.

“Don’t you have class too?” Kyungsoo answers.

He gets a confused look before Baekhyun’s eyes widen in understanding. “ _Ohhh_ , you have Flying, huh!” he exclaims. “Sorry, dude, that’s for First Years only. But at the end of the year, you can try out for the Quidditch team! All of us are on it! We actually start practicing tomorrow.”

Bidding Baekhyun a bitter good luck, Kyungsoo sullenly makes his way down to the Quidditch field. It’s a long walk, having to scale down a narrow, wobbly staircase made of rough stone. The field turns out to be a huge cove, the water shifting from sapphire blue to turquoise as it meets the shore, carving out a perfect circle from the rocks. More students have already lined up on the rocks on the outside edges, trying to skip stones across the water.

“Hey Kyungsoo!” a small voice says, and he has to squint to narrow down who said that before he recognizes the long-haired boy waving and makes his way over.

“Hey,” Kyungsoo answers, grateful for a familiar face. For the most part, he’s gotten over his embarrassment. Thankfully, Jongin had chosen to not bring up the issue.

“Why are you here?” Jongin asks, rolling a flat rock around in his palm.

“It's my first year here too,” he explains, unable to hide the frown.

“Oh, that's cool!” Jongin sounds so excited, a brilliant smile spreading across his face.

Not really. But Kyungsoo remembers Jongin stumbling into the Dining Hall this morning after they had left, and feels a twinge of sympathy. “Did you have to eat by yourself this morning?” he asks.

Jongin's grin dims by several watts before he shrugs and flings the rock. It actually manages to bounce twice before sinking. “I shouldn't have slept in, I guess,” he says.

“How'd you sleep through the sun alarm thing?” Kyungsoo asks. He remembers how sweltering it got by the time he finally got out of the bedroom, and it took Jongin probably twenty minutes after that.

Jongin's smile turns sheepish as he looks back at Kyungsoo. “I really like sleep,” he offers.

“Yeah, I got that,” Kyungsoo says with a smirk before the professor swoops in, silencing the class. Trailing behind her are several dozen broomsticks in a tidy line.

She curves smoothly around the entire perimeter of the cove before landing a few meters away from the group. Her broom hovers at waist height, and she surveys the whole group before speaking. “My name is Professor Son Gain,” she announces, her voice carrying through the entire cove. “I am your Flying instructor. I also officiate our Quidditch matches. No personal brooms are allowed for First Years. You have one minute to mount your brooms, and we will begin.”

Professor Son has no room for nonsense, they discover quickly. They don’t cover anything about Quidditch the entire hours-long class, but rather, repeat drills to work on stability and broom-handling. Apparently, the next class will not either, and focus on learning how to fine tune your broom to adapt to your movements. It’s exhausting work, forcing Kyungsoo’s muscles to tense up for long periods. He’s going to be sore tomorrow. The professor informs them as they leave to expect blisters, and hope that they arrive quickly.

He had forgotten he was surrounded by First Years until they walk up the cliff toward the main campus. Upon curious glances from others, Kyungsoo suddenly feels embarrassed. He wants to distance himself from the group, but fights it. That is irrational behavior.

“That was cool,” Jongin says, a skip in his step as he walks alongside Kyungsoo, oblivious to his internal struggles.

“It was,” he agrees.

“Do you think Baekhyun and the rest are back on the baby island?” Jongin asks, looking off into the distance.

Their friends… How is he supposed to make time to fit in and juggle coursework and catch up an entire year? Is he going to have to accept that he’ll just be the quiet outcast that is terrible at schoolwork and has no friends? Why did he come here then?

“What’s wrong?” Jongin says.

Kyungsoo glances around. They’re nearing the Dining Hall already. “Nothing,” he says, slowing to a stop.

Jongin frowns at him. “Doesn’t sound like nothing,” he mumbles.

Unthinkingly, he covers his face in his hands and drags them down, scrubbing tiredly at his eyes. “I don’t know if I can make it here,” Kyungsoo whispers, staring down at the ground. He’s surprised at himself for going with honesty instead of brushing it off, but the whole day has worn on him so much. “There’s a lot to do, and I missed a whole year, and they just expect me to… make up for it.”

“That doesn’t seem fair,” Jongin agrees.

“It really doesn’t,” Kyungsoo mopes. Why did they even accept him for Second Year then, if they weren’t going to prepare him to catch up?

“Can I help?” Jongin offers.

Kyungsoo lets out a snort. “Not unless you can cram a year’s worth of muscle memory for wandwork and potion making basics into my head,” he grumbles.

Jongin is only silent for a few seconds before he purses his lips thoughtfully. “Well,” he starts nervously, “I can’t do that, but… if you want, I can help with your wandwork?”

“...How would you be able to do that?” Kyungsoo asks, doubtful.

He has to wait, as Jongin gives him a bemused expression, like he wasn’t sure if Kyungsoo was joking or not. “My… family… makes wands. Like, they make all the wands for South Korea,” he says, cheeks pinking. “My mom… wrote our textbooks. I’ve been practicing since I was a baby, basically. I can definitely help with wandwork.”

“Oh.”

“But that’s fine if you don’t want to,” Jongin adds quickly.

“No, uh…” he mumbles, before clearing his throat. “No, that’d be great. Wow, that’s… crazy.” So clearly Jongin’s about to become a popular kid on campus, coming from a rich family and having talent. Crap, why did he just accept the offer? Jongin’s going to make new friends instantly, and then he’ll either ditch tutoring or he’ll feel burdened to help out of obligation. Not to mention, it’s embarrassing to be taught by a junior?

“You look like you’re not happy about this,” Jongin says, chewing on his lip again.

“I am,” Kyungsoo says monotonously, staring off into space as his mood sinks even lower. This should be a good ending to a crappy day, but he can’t even enjoy it with the possible futures looming. “Let’s go eat,” he says, finally turning to Jongin and forcing a smile.

Jongin’s stomach rumbles at the mention of food. He shyly covers it with both arms and nods. “It’ll be fun,” he reassures.

“I hope so,” Kyungsoo says.


End file.
